‘Mayans M.C.’ – Season Five – Review
Mayans Against All. The proclamation of Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (J.D. Pardo) rang out at the end of Season Four of Kurt Sutter and Elgin James’ Mayans M.C. and promised an intense final season as the Mayans went to full-out war with the Sons of Anarchy. And EZ Reyes would soon learn that heavy lies the crown.
Right from the very start of Season Five, Mayans M.C. amped up the intensity and lead showrunner, writer and director Elgin James made things brutal for JD Pardo’s EZ and the Mayans. All-out war has consumed them, and they have waged a brutal and devastating battle with a rogue element of the Sons of Anarchy San Bernardino chapter, led by the volatile, psychotic and unhinged Isaac Packer (JR Bourne). With each successive season of Mayans M.C. the series has ramped up the force of the narrative, and this has been by clear design, courtesy of showrunner Elgin James. But I don’t think anyone expected it would get this crazy so quickly.
While Season Four’s shocking and explosive final season made for a combustible action, its consequences would be felt in Season Five. And we were witness to these right from the start. With their heroin war chest burnt to ashes and a traitor’s presence felt, J.D. Pardo’s Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes took the brunt of the cost for this failure. And soon, the bodies started to stack up. Elgin James knew that the clock was running out for EZ and the Santo Padre chapter of the Mayans M.C. right from the start of Season Five, and he held nothing back. Each episode built and built across this season, and the scramble for survival pulled you in with each episode. James doesn’t hold anything back with the intensity of the series, and a reckoning is coming.
For five seasons, audiences have watched with anticipation and been caught up in the journey of J.D. Pardo’s Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes. The former golden boy of a proud Mexican-American family who succumbed through tragedy to a life he never wanted and who rose through the ranks by skill, dominance and cunning within the Mayans M.C. Now club Presidente, he faces the very real threats of responsibility, and he was in for a hell of a wake-up call as the blood flowed and the bodies stacked up. Pardo reaches deep inside to bring out a hell of a dangerous and shadowy performance as EZ realises the depths of darkness he must go to rule in this dog-eat-dog world. And it’s damn convincing. With each episode, he’s dragged deeper and deeper into the abyss, the poisoned crown of the M.C. wearing him down and removing any notion of civility from him. It’s a hell of a thing to watch, and Pardo is damn cold in his portrayal of EZ this season.
Clayton Cardenas as Angel Reyes, finds new ground to explore now as a loving father and husband, and it’s clear that the M.C. life, and his brother’s brutal war, are not in Angel’s interests anymore. What we see in Season Five with Cardenas is a complete 180 reversal. While Angel started out as a rebel and wise-cracking lothario within the world of the M.C. his new life has changed him, and his brother is now the savage he could never be. Angel’s relationship with EZ is tested by Elgin James in this series, and there are some absolutely shocking moments that audiences won’t see coming with these two.
The evolving and twisted relationship between Sarah Bolger’s Emily Thomas and Danny Pino’s Miguel Galindo continues to evolve this season, and despite her best efforts to escape the violence of her husband’s family and business, Emily is reluctantly still at his side. Danny Pino as Miguel Galindo, finds new opportunities, along with the shadow of the past now haunting him, and both of these broken characters have to deal with a familiar and venomous snake. While there is still a touch point between Emily and EZ, any hope of a happy ending for them is now completely gone, and it’s clear that Emily is about is crack. And brutally.
Finally, JR Bourne makes his return as the unhinged and psychopathic Isaac Packer. Having assumed control of SAMDINO entirely, he’s gleefully eager to wage war and bring fire and death to the Mayans this season. Since Season Three, Bourne has brought a hyped-up mania to the series as the crazed Isaac, and it only gets more nuts since with him now in control. His drugged-up psychedelic philosophies and violent actions will freak audiences the hell out, and it’s clear that only complete destruction of the Mayans will satiate him. Bourne’s Isaac is one of the most volatile and consuming villains in recent television history, and he takes the insanity to a whole new level in the final season of Mayans M.C.
Season Five of Mayans M.C. is bold and violent, and with each episode, every character is playing for keeps, and death is at every corner. Elgin James understands that it’s do or die for the M.C. this season, and he’s holding nothing back. There are plenty of twists and turns, plus some great surprises that take audiences unexpectedly in Season Five, and it makes for a hell of a ride. There’s also a defined and deliberate darkness in Season Five, and the very real consequences of EZ’s choices are made clear episode by episode. The fire grows larger, and EZ’s quest for dominance is ready to consume all those around him.
The end of the road looms for EZ Reyes and Mayans M.C. with the forthcoming and penultimate episode of the series in ‘Slow to Bleed Fair Son’, and we’ll have to see who ends up as top dog in this brutal kill or be killed world. But the larger question remains, will EZ Reyes be able to escape from this world of violence and death and redeem his soul, or will the life take him.
Mayans MC currently streams on SKY GO and NEON.
Image: SKY
